When it is fun to be a Geek with a Billion $ budget

[Michaelangelica]

Happy Birthday/Anniversary NASA !
Has it only been 50 years?
Wow what a ride!

According to a statement from NASA, the transmission will be aimed at the North Star, Polaris, which is 431 light years away from earth.

(Happy Birthday Beatles song too!)
NASA beams Beatles 'Across the Universe' - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
The transmission is going roughly here:-

[freeztar]

Cool!

Limitless undying love which shines around me like a million suns; It calls me on and on across the universe

[CraigD]

Very cool.

I especially like this picture of JPL mission control sitting and listening – they look happy.

Everywhere I’ve looked, though, is skimpy on technical details. Was it an analog AM signal? What frequency (range)? And, after 20 minutes or so of learning all sorts of details about the DSN, I still haven’t found anything on the actual signal power of any of its transmitters, or even a summary of its transmitter features, other than “it can reach distant spacecraft”.

I’m interested about its power, as it would be fun to imagine what sort of gear a hypothetical listener around Polaris would need to pick up the signal.

[Michaelangelica]

Write to NASA and ask Craig
(You can't rely on non-geek journalists)
Some Geek at NASA there will Loove those questions